Maria Esperanza and The Family by Maria Coromoto Marrero Bianchini

Maria Coromoto Marrero Bianchini, the daughter of Maria Esperanza, delivered her mother’s message of hope and love to a packed room at the Collegium Center for Faith and Culture. Joining her was her husband Carlos, family friends, Piri and Coky Liscano and Fr. Timothy Byerley, the Vice Postulator for the beatification cause of Maria Esperanza.

The evening had a festive flare as the crowd awaited for the arrival of Maria Coromoto. It was the beginning of the week of the World Meeting of Families, and the theme of Coromoto’s talk was the unity of all families, and the hope and joy found in trusting and loving Our Lord.

Coromoto spoke about growing up with a mystic as a mother, and how they never thought that they themselves would also have the privilege of seeing The Mother of God, yet on March 25, 1984 that changed when Mary, the Mother of Our Lord appeared to over 100 pilgrims at the site in Betania. The children saw her first, then ran to get the adults. The Blessed Mother appeared for long segments, over and over throughout the day. The crowd was astonished. Some fainted, some were so overwhelmed they had to leave, but all saw her. This apparition has been approved by the Church and is equal in standing to Fatima and Lourdes.

Coromoto said it was this apparition that sealed the hearts of those present with a responsibility to share the message of Betania, which is the very presence of Our Lady. Maria Esperanza would say that Betania is a little piece of heaven, where there is peace. She shared, “Betania is a place of grace, where people go to reconcile with ourselves, with our brothers and sisters, to meditate.., to forgive.., to open ourselves to grace.. to open our mind.., to open our conscious to what Our Lord is giving us. And if God is giving it to us, it is because we need it. These are very difficult times, but Grace is abundant, because sin is also abundant. But grace is superior. Believe me, a little bit of this grace is enough to live our lives thanking God forever. And to commit our lives.”

Related to this message of Betania is a message for families, says Coromoto. “This is what we have learned. My mother who wanted to become a nun, and did not, but was a wife and a mother. She knew that in these times she needed to fashion a family which would be a model, an example for these times.” The Bishop would say she was a wife and a mother, but with the heart of a nun. “She was that mixture…she knew how to translate that feeling she had, the love of God and the love of the Holy Father! We must love our Holy Father! He represents Jesus in these times.” In reference to the visit by Pope Francis, Coromoto said, “It is such an honor to have the Holy Father come here, especially this Father who is so understanding, such a good Father, he is a representative of the mercy of God for all his children. Let’s take advantage of this great event.”

Coromoto continued by asking us to take a moment to meditate upon how our families are going. “It is a true moment to meditate on how we are doing, because my mother says that everything has a solution. But the important thing is to forgive. To forgive the members of our families, and to forgive the members of our communities. Because when we forgive, then love is free. Leave behind the resentment of what someone said about you. Open your hearts and feel the forgiveness. Our Lady embraces it, and with Her grace, She can heal that feeling of being hurt. We have to let ourselves be healed. Because of the hope, the love, the joy, the true joy of the moment of the Pope’s visit, it is a time of healing for our families,because it is contact with God. So let us open ourselves. If we do not allow God to come in and change us…He is the only one who can, He is the only One who can heal us. Once we are healed, then we can love each other and be happy.”

She continued speaking about family life as a child. “When we were kids, when we would argue, we were told give peace to your sibling. We could not stand up from our chairs until we had made peace. We had to learn to forgive. The worse thing we can do is be divided. We cannot live our lives and let others live theirs. This is a time of community. It is the moment to be united. Any division is from the enemy. It is wrong to do whatever I want to do, and you do whatever you want to do. This is wrong. We must do things together.” Maria Esperanza predicted this is a time where we will live in communities, with each one being different. “What one community doesn’t have, the other one does. This fosters altruism. To help each other. We cannot do everything. We must divide the tasks, so we can all do something. This is what a family is about…let us live what we do in a small family, and live it in a community. And this will bring healing. This is the healing that Our Lady, Reconciliar of all peoples and nations brings. In all the apparitions throughout the world, Our Lady is speaking about peace. She is speaking about prayer. She is speaking about conversions. She is crying out to us, because she will not forsake us. She knows we need Her grace. This is what Jesus tells her…Mother, go out and spread the message. This is what we must meditate on. Let us work together as families, and as communities. Let us unite.”

Coromoto expressed that she came to share her mother with us, and invited us to take her mother as our mother and to be devoted to her. She emphasized that her mother, Maria Esperanza lived a very balanced life. She was able to understand and enjoy those things that life was about, then she would withdraw and spend time in contemplation. She had all these different mystical phenomena, but would go from here to there, in the most natural way. This should be natural in our life. Perhaps we have been missing all this due to sin. But if the Lord is showing the beauty of this through sending these special human beings as examples of life and of hope, then Maria was an example of hope and how families should be.”

One of the last things Servant of God, Maria Esperanza told her daughter Coromoto, was ‘to be united’. “No matter what happens in your life stay united to Jesus, to Mary, to your prayer groups and to your families. Fight for your families. The Lord will touch with His grace, wherever you cannot. He wants to see that we are willing. We perform as if we can do it all. Where our strength ends, the Lord begins to work. Then we will realize we are living by the grace of God. If He does not give us His Divine grace, we will fall. We believe because of our ego that it is us; no, everything is the grace. These are times that we must believe that it is the grace…we must allow ourselves, in meekness, to be led hand in hand by the Lord, then we will see unbelievable things.”

I invite you to get to know Maria Esperanza. Her biography, “Maria Esperanza and the Grace of Betania” written by Fr. Timothy Byerley, is available at the Collegium Center for Faith and Culture. I encourage you to get a copy and get to know this amazing woman of God!